Johnson rallies behind its backup quarterback and solid defense to slip past Austin High
Johnson survived a feisty Austin High defense and an injury to its starting quarterback to keep its playoff hopes alive Thursday night at House Park.
In a game defined by defense and field position, Kael Hatnot’s 43-yard touchdown run with 7:54 left gave Johnson a 20-19 lead and the Jaguars’ defense did the rest, stopping Austin High twice on downs in the fourth quarter before a final play came up well short.
“Our defense was huge tonight,” Johnson coach Steve Hoffman said. “We spent a lot of the game playing inside our own 30-yard line, and (the defense) kept battling and battling. We have great kids and they’re resilient, and at the end we got the W.”
The win keeps Johnson firmly in the District 26-6A playoff race. With three district games left, the Jaguars sit at 4-3 overall and 3-2 in the district with another big game against Bowie next Thursday. Johnson closes with games against winless Akins and undefeated Westlake, so a win next week over Bowie (2-4, 2-2) would put the Jaguars in the driver’s seat for the final playoff spot behind Westlake, Dripping Springs and Lake Travis.
“We’ve got to beat Bowie next week,” Hoffman said. “It’s going to be a really good game, probably a lot like this one. We have to go out and battle and play great defense again.”
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Johnson held Austin High to just 172 total yards, including just 84 on the ground. The Jaguars toughened significantly after the Maroons rallied to take a 19-14 lead midway through the third quarter. In the game’s final 18 minutes, the Maroons managed to gain just 70 yards and never crossed midfield.
“We never got our running game going, and it ended up being us against the clock there,” Austin High (1-5, 1-3) coach Bernard Riley said.
Despite a slow start, Johnson opened up a 14-0 lead with a pair of long touchdowns in the first quarter. Quarterback Carson McMullin scored on a 73-yard run and then hit DJ Hamilton for a 56-yard touchdown. But he left the game with a foot injury early in the second quarter and things changed.
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Without McMullin, the Jaguars struggled to move the ball and the Maroons chipped away. James Peterson kicked a field goal on the final play of the first half to get Austin on the board, then added another kick early in the third quarter.
After recovering an onside kick, the Maroons pressed their momentum. A fourth-down touchdown pass from John Latham to Christian Rector cut Johnson’s lead to 14-12. Three plays later, Gus Hersch intercepted Johnson quarterback Bryan Forsberg’s pass and returned it 33 yards for a touchdown to give the Maroons a 19-14 lead.
“For awhile, we had the game in our hands,” Riley said. “When (McMullin) went out, the passing game was kind of eliminated for the most part, and we were playing well.”
The Maroons’ defense forced another Johnson punt and got the ball near midfield. After stalling, the Maroons tried a fake punt on fourth down and failed, giving the ball back to the Jaguars.
“You know, we converted a fake in the first half, and we had some momentum, so we tried it again,” Wiley said.
Though the Jaguars didn’t immediately capitalize, they took control of the field position battle and eventually got their break.
“We wanted to pin them down there and just keep getting the ball back,” Hoffman said. “Offensively, we have great backs and we thought they’d pop something, and they did. I’m glad it worked out.”
From that point on, Austin High gained just 72 yards, 20 of which came on the game’s final play. The Maroons never snapped the ball on Johnson’s side of the field in the fourth quarter. Johnson’s offense managed just 247 yards on the night. Hadnot led the way with 94 yards rushing on 22 carries.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Johnson football beats Austin High to stay in the 26-6A playoff race
